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Infant/Toddler Observation

Infant/Toddler Observation Cayla Sandlin EDEC 121 Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana

Infant/Toddler Observation In my free time, I babysit. I love the kiddos I babysit for. Other than the three little boys I typically babysit, I dont get a lot of toddler interaction. So I figured, what more opportune chance would I get to observe a three-year old than one of the little guys I babysit for? The one I chose to observe looks like a miniature Dennis the Menace with long, shaggy blonde hair. Since I am not going to mention his real name, Ill name him Dennis to keep his name anonymous. Today I am babysitting him on a Snow Day. The elementary school I work at is closed as so is his preschool, so it worked out that he could play with me all day. I had lots to do at my house, so I asked if it was okay if he came to my house to play. His mother agreed to let him come over. My house is a two-story house in a subdivision with lots of other kids around. Upstairs in my loft, I have a lot of Disney plush toys sitting on a beanbag chair. Downstairs is clean and tidy; but not for long once Dennis comes in at 8:30 a.m. The little boy I am observing is three years old. He appears to be genuinely healthy as he goes about my house. Dennis is very energetic when he comes in. I have Disney Junior on the television in the family room. We chat as he watches Doc McStuffins. I didnt observe Dennis lunch time, but he did eat all of his food. He found my candy jar and kept asking for candy all day long. Dennis would get whiney when I didnt give him any candy. He is a thin kid; he looks to have a healthy weight. I didnt have to give him any medications. His gross motor skills seemed to have developed just fine as he jumps around my house. We dance to music, too. I thought observing Dennis while he paints would be a good time for me to sit back and watch him. Lying around in my office/craft room, I had a spare canvas. I brought the canvas downstairs along with several colors of paint and paintbrushes. Dennis got really excited when he saw that I had paint and shouted, Yay! I want to paint! By 9 oclock, Dennis begins painting the canvas. I can see him manipulating a paint brush with his right hand with no

Infant/Toddler Observation problems. His fine motor skills are still developing as he has not yet mastered the pincer grasp. When painting, he holds the paint brush in his fist. He is quiet other than a few muttered words to me about his artwork. Look! Thats mommy, he said about a long, red line. Developmentally, he is in between the Placement stage of drawing and the shape stage of drawing. His placement is all over the canvas but most of his artwork is in the center of the canvas. But I notice he has drawn a few circles, indicating to me that he is graduating into the shape stage of artistic development (Fox and Schirrmacher, 2012). After two minutes of painting, he ran around my living room, dancing with the paintbrush. I instructed him that the paintbrush stays on the painting table. His comprehension development is adequate as I asked him to go back into the kitchen to take his paintbrush. Dennis apologized and walked back into the kitchen. I asked him if he was finished painting and he said Yes. I let him leave his artwork there to dry and instructed him to go into the bathroom to wash the paint off of his hands. Berk (2012) says that by age one, a baby has a good sense of problem solving by figuring things out by trial-and-error and finding a new way to go about the problem (p. 211). Dennis could not figure out how to use my sensory-operated soap dispenser in the bathroom. He tried to press the top of the dispenser in hopes soap would squirt out. Dennis tried to wiggle the dispenser. He stared at it trying to find out how to get the soap out. Instead of asking me for help, during all the wiggling of the dispenser, he realized soap came out. He wiggled the soap dispenser again the same way he did when the soap came out. This time he noticed the noise the dispenser makes when it squirts out the soap. I noticed Dennis stop to listen to the noise as the soap dripped on the counter. He finally began waved his hand under the where the soap dripped out of. I loved observing him problem solve with the soap dispenser. By 9:20 a.m., Dennis hands were finally clean. Right next to my quest bathroom, where Dennis

Infant/Toddler Observation was, is an umbrella basket. His three-year old curiosity helped him find a bright yellow umbrella. He yanked out the umbrella and tried to open it. I explained to him that he will have bad luck if he opens it inside the house. Regardless of all the snow, he wanted to go outside with the yellow umbrella. I asked him to put his boots on, so he sat down to put them on. He needed some help tying his boot strings, since developmentally, his fine-motor skills are not adapt enough to tie, plus, cognitively he is not developed enough, yet, to tie. Thankfully the street was plowed enough to go on a little walk with the umbrella. His language skills are very good. We talked about his school and his daddy. Everything he said to me was in clear, sentence structure. His attention and ability to listen to me was very good. He answered my questions and wasnt distracted by things going on in the neighborhood around us. During our walk outside, the elementary school-aged girls across the street came over to meet Dennis. Noticing some stranger anxiety (p. 252) and social referencing (Berk, p. 253) from Dennis, he acted nervous as to who the little girls were and immediately put up a guard between himself and the little girls. He wanted to know who they were. One of the little girls was a little more pushy and outgoing than the other. She asked her mom if she could come in my house to play with Dennis. Her mom gave her permission. We were settled in the house with boots and coats off by 9:40 a.m., Dennis was wanted to paint again. The little girl also wanted to paint. She asked him if she could paint on his canvas with him. Defensively, he said No! I told him that I shared my canvas with him so it would be nice of him to share the canvas with her as well. He became really bossy by telling her which colors to use and where her area was on the canvas that she could paint. I noticed the slow-to-warm-up-child (p.257) in him as he didnt want much to do with the little girl. After about ten minutes of painting with her, he gaged his

Infant/Toddler Observation effortful control, the ability to suppress his dominant response to execute a better response (p. 257-258), as he suppressed his feelings against her and became kinder towards her. I enjoyed observing little Dennis today. His high-energy and amount of curiosity throughout the day reminded me that he is a developing toddler. I am glad the little girl from across the street came over to play with himit was neat to see how he interacted with another child. I wonder if, perhaps, he was somewhat rude to her because she is a girl.

Infant/Toddler Observation References Fox, J., and Schirrmacher, R. (2012) Art and Creative Development for Young Children. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning Berk, L. (2012) Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson

Infant/Toddler Observation

Week #6 Integrative: Infant or Toddler Observation

(must be typed and submitted as Word document) Use textbook page 290 and Developmental Checklist to guide your observation

Instructor use GRADE: Permission form included? Comments:

Students Name: Jordan (Dennis as anonymous name in paper) Date of observation: February 3, 2014 (parent permission form has a different date since I didnt get it signed the day I observed him. Parent signed it when I last saw the child. ) Beginning Time: 8:30 a.m. Ending Time: 9:50 a.m. Location of Observation: my house Childs age: 3-years old Identify Checklist used:

NOTE: These are starting points for your observation. Feel free to add your own questions. 1. QUESTIONS FOR PARENT OR CAREGIVER Before you observe the child, ask the parent about some of their earlier experiences: How have the parents prepared for parenthood? Childbirth? Jordan was not a planned baby, so the birth of him helped the parents to mature and grow up. The dad was only 14-years old when he impregnated Jordans mom and Jordans mom was 18years old when she got pregnant with Jordan.

If a parent, describe the first moments after the birth of your baby: Mom said that both parents were excited to have a baby, but they were also very nervous since they were both young and still trying to graduate high school. Neither parent had very much experience prior to Jordan with children.

Infant/Toddler Observation

Describe your transition to parenthood. (identify if this is a first child or are there sibling?) Jordan was the first child and is still the only child. Parenthood was hard for both parents since they were both in high school when Jordans mom got pregnant. The parents were essentially children themselves when Jordan was born. The parents are no longer dating, so Jordan lives with both parents.

What has surprised you most about your infant/toddler?

Mom stated that she was very shy and introverted growing up and still today, she is quiet. She said that Jordan is completely opposite of her. He talks to anyone and enjoys being around people.

ADDITIONAL QUESTION? Is it hard being a young mother? Mom said, Yes, it is difficult to be a young mother. I didnt get a chance to live my early twenties nor did I get to go to college. 2. OBSERVATION on INFANT or TODDLER NOTE: Record specific examples of what you SEE and HEAR without judgment statements Describe the Physical Development of the Infant, birth to 0-12 months or Toddler, 12-36 months) In your description, refer to and reference from Chapter 5 in the text. (include: age, general health, eating habits, nutrition, any physical concerns, immunizations, general description of physical characteristics of the child, fine and gross motor skills, reflexes) (These are not in complete sentences as I copied them from my notes taken during observation.)

Infant/Toddler Observation
He appears healthy. Hair is a little disheveledneeds a haircut. He ate plenty of his lunch, but he found my candy jar and wants only candy now. Gave him a suckerasked for another one after he ate the one he had. I told him to wait until later for another sucker. Observed whining when he didnt get more candy. Plays well on his own. He painted for a while. Knows most of his colors. Used a lot of black paint in his painting.

Describe the Cognitive Development of the Infant, Birth to 0-12 months or Toddler, 12-36 months. In your description, refer to and reference from Chapter 6 in the text. (Piagetian stage of Sensori-motor development, language development -production and comprehension-, preverbal gestures, object permanence, curiosity, problem solving, intentional behavior, attention, memory)

Problem solving: Trying to figure out my sensory-activated soap dispenser. Curiosity: He is very interested in my yellow umbrella. He wants to know how it openshe just loves carrying it around. It isnt even raining!

Describe the Emotional Social Development of the Infant, Birth to 0-12 months or Toddler, 12 26 months. In your description, refer to and reference from Chapter 7 in the text. (examples of Eriksons stage of either trust vs mistrust OR autonomy vs share/doubt, temperament, attachment, stranger anxiety, secure base and exploration, emotional self-regulation, emotional expressions, self-recognition) Around 9:30 a.m., we went on a walk outside, regardless of the snow. The little neighbor girl asked to come inside to play with the child I am observing. He was rude to her. Slow-towarm up-child? Effortful control? Refer to page 257, chapter 6 for more info.

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Infant/Toddler Observation

What did you learn from this observation that added to your understanding of the development of infants and toddlers? How was this assignment helpful for you as a future teacher or parent? I loved watching Dennis try to figure out how to use the soap dispenser. It reminded me that he is a developing toddler. As much as I wanted to help him, I didnt because I wanted to see him become independent. As a teacher, we need to fade out our prompts as much as possible so that students will become more independent. This assignment has helped me mostly teach and interact with my kiddos, but to also take some time to sit back and observe each child so I can really learn who they are. I learned that kids need a lot of interaction though. After observing him, he and I communicated a lotdiscussing paint colors, talking about his family, his favorite shows, and just really interacting.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS: Karen, I could not find a checklist, so hopefully this observation included most of what you wanted so I dont get too many points deducted. Also, I do not have a scanner. I know youd prefer a scanner as opposed to a photo taken from my phone, but hopefully this will be okay. And I know on my Parent Permission Form I highlighted in their school but I chose to observe a kiddo that I babysit.

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Infant/Toddler Observation